Michael Carrick previewed the weekend trip to Arsenal in his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon.
The United boss is keen not to get carried away after the 2-0 victory over Manchester City in last Saturday's derby, especially given the Gunners' recent form and performances.
But Carrick did highlight positive showings from the likes of Diogo Dalot and, as a substitute, Matheus Cunha, while also touching upon topical issues, including Casemiro's announcement on Thursday that he will be leaving at the end of this season.
You can watch the full media briefing, and read every word, below...
Michael, first of all looking ahead to the game because you had a fantastic result last week. How is the mood and what’s team news looking like?
“I’m not going to tell you the team first off [laughs].”
Any injuries, then?
“No, everyone came through the game really well actually. I can’t tell you anything apart from the obvious. It’s been a good week, it was a big result, a big performance and a big uplift, you know, with the feeling inside the stadium. It’s getting that balance between taking the encouragement and the confidence from the game itself and the performance and keeping level-headed and the feet on the ground. We’ve got another big game coming up and one game doesn’t make you a great team, it gives us a great foundation to build on. There’s a lot of confidence, a lot of good feeling within the group but measured with that, and we know what’s coming and we’ve got to be ready for it.”
The club and Casemiro announced he would be leaving at the end of the season and it also raises a question as to some other players’ futures, Harry Maguire for example. Have the club had discussions about his future?
“I think it’s just coming into that time of the season really, with contracts and, obviously, January is January and the window, so I’m kind of working my way through that and coming towards the end of the season, in terms of contracts and decisions. That will obviously be taken and discussed in good time really, and at the right time. I think the announcement for Case was for clarity as much as anything, it was kind of decided anyway before I arrived, so it’s not just a knee-jerk decision, but the type of personality, the character that he is I think it shows you, the performance last week, where he is mentally and how much it means for him to be here and finish the season strong. I’ve already had that conversation with him and he’s desperate to do well and finish well, and it’s good to see, so I’ve got no doubts about him at all.”
Just on that, does that mean you’re going to be involved in these discussions, because obviously it’s a bit of a weird situation at the moment, you’re only here until the end of the season and clearly the club’s got to operate beyond that?
“For the week or so that it’s been so far, looking too far down the track hasn’t happened so far. It’s just been the initial thoughts of what’s happening now. What the important thing for me is that any decision I make, my staff make, or the club make, it’s not short-term, It’s not just to get through to the end of the season. I’ve got a responsibility, whatever happens, to leave the club in a good place and moving forward, to make the right decisions. As time goes on, I’m sure I’ll be part of it and we’ll work our way through it.”
In terms of the injuries, Matthijs de Ligt when he was first missing, Ruben [Amorim] said he’d be back next week and now we’re weeks, months down the line. Is he anywhere near?
“Hopefully, yeah. He had a bit of a setback initially before I arrived, I think, only small. Not so much a setback, I think it was just a little bit slower than initially hoped but he’s certainly getting closer but, hopefully, next couple of weeks, without putting an exact timeline on it, he’ll be back and it’ll be great to have him back.”
Michael, how are you feeling about Arsenal?
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to the game. It’s a big challenge, you know, they’re a very good team. It’s pretty obvious to say that. They’ve got so many strong points to their game, and to their squad. It’s a big challenge, they are where they are for a reason and where they are in the Champions League for a reason, so we’re fully aware of that and not taking that lightly at all. We feel we’re in a good place and we’re looking forward to the game, so it’s where we want to be, with that real positive energy and enthusiasm, to go there and be positive, but for sure we know it's not going to come easy.”
You talk about making decisions for the long-term and not just the short-term, we saw Kobbie Mainoo make his first league start in the Manchester derby. How important could he be for the long-term future of this club and what’s it been like working with him?
“Yeah, I’ve really enjoyed working with Kobbie, I think I’ve known him since he was younger. I think I started working with him when he was 13, 14 years old, when I was going through my badges myself. I’ve said it before: this club needs young players coming through and being the foundation, to understand what it means not just for the players or the squad, but for the club and for the supporters. It’s something we need to grasp and keep building on and Kobbie is a prime example, coming through so quickly and having a rapid rise. To play in some unbelievably big games and impact those games at such a young age shows an awful lot of quality, in terms of the character and to be able to handle it. Part of a career is a few ups and downs and sometimes it goes in different trajectories but we’ve seen last week what Kobbie can bring. It was great. He’s quite straight-faced and he doesn’t give you an awful lot but you can see the way he played, he expressed himself, he was enjoying himself. To see him like that was great.”
When you were playing against Arsenal, as a player, you had lots of battles, for the title. Arsenal have pulled away but can United look at them as an example?
“We’ve got our ideas and what needs to be done and how we need to get there. Credit to Arsenal, they’re in a really strong place at the moment, they’ve built a squad and a group and Mikel [Arteta] takes a lot of credit for that. He has done a fantastic job. We’ve got our own ideas what we need to do and what it’s going to take to get there, that’s what we’ll keep working towards.”
I’d like to ask about using [Bryan] Mbeumo in the derby as a centre forward. How does his game contrast to Sesko and Zirkzee?
“It’s just variety in terms of the strengths in some ways. I think, Bryan, I gave him a bit of a free role in many ways in a partnership with Bruno [Fernandes] last week, to drift and to fill different spaces. Ben’s very good at playing on the last line and running behind and I think we’ve seen that in recent weeks, he’s done great to get his goal so he’s in a good place. Josh can do a little bit of both, he drifts and plays in the hole, into feet and links. He’s very good at bringing others into play so it’s just different styles. Certain games will have different styles, so it’s great to have that flexibility, for sure. Matheus came on through the middle and made a big difference for us in terms of carrying the game into the later stages and creating the second goal, so we’ve got good options through there and we just felt, last week, that was the way to go and, thankfully, it paid off for us.”
Diogo has had a difficult season and there was frustration with him from the fans, how do you think he’s doing and will settling into right-back help him after being moved around a lot this season?
“I thought he played ever so well last week, I have to say. There was obviously the incident with the yellow card and that was probably after 10 minutes or so, so to go one-to-one with the winger for the rest of the game and to manage that, and to defend as well as he did, it was very impressive, so I was delighted with him last week. I think it’s pretty obvious that there’s been ups and downs with performance, not individually but collectively so it’s not easy to find your rhythm and find your top form individually but Diogo, from what I’ve seen, I’ve known him for a while and seen him this week, he’s really focused. He’s desperate to do well and he loves playing for the club. You can see that. As I say, he played fantastically well last week, so there’s a lot for him to build on.”
You put your arm around Ben last week when he didn’t get on. It felt like you inherited him at a good time, after what Darren [Fletcher] had done with him. How do you go about managing him when he’s not played for two weeks and risk losing that momentum?
“I don’t think it’s losing momentum, I think, as I said, it was a team for last week to go into the game in a certain way. I think he’s in a good place Ben, he’s trained really well. Obviously, we’re working with him and trying to improve him as much as possible. I’ve been really impressed, to be honest, with the way he’s trained, his finishing and the way he’s gone about it. I don’t see it as anything else other than pushing on and using what he’s just done over the last month or so as a stepping stone and being here for a long time.”